Fairy Footage Esquimalt BC: What Security Camera Caught

You’ve probably seen a neighborhood security camera catch something unusual—a stray cat, an errant raccoon. But a resident of Esquimalt, British Columbia, says his camera captured something far stranger: what he calls a fairy.

Date of sighting: July 2025 ·
Location: Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada ·
Witness: Steve McBeath ·
Device: Home security camera ·
Media coverage outlets: CTV News, Coast to Coast AM, Dave & Chuck the Freak

Key details from the Esquimalt sighting are worth examining side by side.

Has anyone ever seen a real fairy?

The Esquimalt security camera footage

In late July 2025, Steve McBeath’s home security camera in Esquimalt, BC, triggered on motion and recorded a tiny bright figure zipping across his garden. According to CTV News, the footage shows a white dot that “turns and flies directly at the camera.” McBeath told reporters he was “stunned” and described the object as “kind of humanoid” with “glowing wings.” The camera system, which normally distinguishes between human and animal motion, flagged the object as an unknown motion event, according to Dave and Chuck the Freak.

The story broke on August 7, 2025, when CTV reporter Adam Sawatsky aired the clip. Within days, the video was picked up by Coast to Coast AM and shared thousands of times on social media. Yet no official investigation was launched, and no government agency has commented on the footage.

Historical eyewitness accounts

Fairies have been “seen” for centuries. The most famous visual “proof” came in 1917 with the Cottingley Fairies photographs, which were later admitted as fakes. In Celtic folklore, eyewitness accounts of fairy sightings were common in rural Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, often involving small humanoid figures near ancient mounds or forests, as documented by Britannica. The Esquimalt footage joins this long line of anecdotal evidence—but with a 21st-century twist: the witness had a security camera, not a stage-managed box camera.

Challenges in verifying fairy sightings

Every recorded “fairy” video or photo faces the same hurdle: the image is too pixelated, too brief, or too ambiguous. In the Esquimalt case, CTV News reported that experts quickly noted the figure’s size, speed, and erratic path match the profile of a flying insect—likely a fly—at close range. Pareidolia, the brain’s tendency to see familiar patterns in random data, also plays a role. As Coast to Coast AM noted, “similar fairy sightings often debunked as lens flares, dust, or insects on cameras.”

Where are fairies mostly found?

Fairy habitats in folklore and nature

Traditional Irish and Scottish folklore places fairies in specific landscapes: Britannica describes “fairy mounds” (often Neolithic burial sites), deep forests, and overgrown gardens as common dwelling places. In Ireland, “fairy trees”—usually hawthorns—are left undisturbed even in modern construction projects, according to Irish Road Trip. The Esquimalt sighting occurred in a suburban garden—a far cry from the misty glens of Ireland, but not inconsistent with the idea that fairies dwell near human habitation.

Where are fairies in Ireland?

Ireland remains the epicenter of fairy folklore. Key sites include the Brú na Bóinne, the Hill of Tara, and countless lone hawthorn trees across the countryside. Local stories caution against damaging these trees, or else risk fairy retribution. The belief is so persistent that some Irish road builders have rerouted highways to avoid a fairy tree, as reported by BBC News.

Can fairies be found in British Columbia?

British Columbia has no indigenous fairy tradition; the concept was brought by European settlers. However, the province’s lush forests and gardens provide the kind of habitat folklore describes. McBeath’s garden in Esquimalt, a quiet suburb of Victoria, fits the “neglected corner of a garden” archetype. Dave and Chuck the Freak noted that the camera recorded the figure near a flower bed—a classic fairy haunt in stories.

Why this matters: The Esquimalt sighting occurred where folklore predicts it might—a garden with flowers and cover—but the explanation likely lies in physics, not magic.

What do fairies look like?

Irish fairy descriptions

In Irish folklore, fairies (Aos Sí) are usually described as tall, beautiful beings who can appear human-sized or smaller, often dressed in green or white, according to Britannica. Winged fairies with insect-like appendages are more a Victorian invention, popularized by Shakespeare and later Disney. The Esquimalt figure—a small, glowing, winged humanoid—aligns with the modern pop-culture image rather than the ancient one.

What are the 5 types of fairies?

Folklore classification varies, but a common breakdown from Britannica includes:

• Trooping fairies – social groups that ride out in processions
• Solitary fairies – brownies, banshees, leprechauns
• Changelings – fairies that replace human babies
• Elemental spirits – associated with earth, air, fire, water
• Household spirits – domestic helpers like hobgoblins

The Esquimalt figure, if it were a fairy, most closely resembles a solitary winged spirit.

What do Irish fairies look like?

Traditional Irish fairies often have no wings at all. They are described as “the Good People,” tall, radiant, and dangerous. The Irish Road Trip notes that the leprechaun—a solitary fairy—is small, bearded, and wears a hat. None of these descriptions match the glowing, winged figure in McBeath’s video.

Comparison with the Esquimalt footage

CTV News showed the footage in black and white: a shimmering silver dot that changes direction mid-flight. McBeath described it as “glowing wings.” Skeptics point out that insects, especially flies and moths, can appear bright and wing-like in infrared security cameras. Dave and Chuck the Freak stated that “experts conclude the footage depicts a flying insect, most likely a fly.”

The trade-off: The more the footage looks like a fairy, the less likely it is to be one—because real insects under infrared produce exactly the same visual cues.

Why can’t you say your name to fairies?

Fairy tricks and wordplay

In Celtic folklore, giving a fairy your name grants them power over you. According to Britannica, fairies are known for wordplay, riddles, and bargains that trap humans. The rule “never tell a fairy your name” appears in stories from Ireland to Scotland to Cornwall. It’s a protective measure, much like not telling a stranger your full name online.

Fae etiquette in folklore

Beyond names, folk traditions from Irish Road Trip include: never accept fairy food, never dance with them, and never say “thank you” (because it implies a debt). These rules exist to protect humans from being lured into fairy realms where time moves differently. The Esquimalt encounter, of course, had no verbal exchange—just a security camera and a witness who didn’t need to give his name to the figure.

The pattern: Folklore’s rules are designed to maintain boundaries between humans and the supernatural. McBeath’s camera maintained that boundary automatically—no conversation needed. The security camera footage from Esquimalt, BC, provides a modern example of this boundary maintenance, as seen in this identificació d.

What does Christianity say about fairies?

Biblical perspective on supernatural beings

Christianity does not directly reference fairies in the Bible. However, many church traditions view them as fallen angels or demons, as noted by GotQuestions.org. Others see fairies as neutral nature spirits, part of God’s creation but independent of human salvation history. The Catholic Church in Ireland historically tolerated fairy beliefs as local superstition, according to academic research.

Christian views on fairy sightings

Conservative Christian groups tend to interpret fairy sightings as demonic deception. GotQuestions.org argues that fairies are “fallen angels who have taken on a deceptive form.” Mainline denominations generally consider fairy lore as harmless folklore. The Esquimalt footage did not trigger any major religious debate, likely because the secular explanation (insect) was widely accepted.

Conflict or coexistence with folklore

In Ireland, fairy belief and Christian faith have coexisted for centuries. BBC News reported that even in the 21st century, some Irish farmers avoid disturbing fairy trees. The Esquimalt incident, being in a secular Canadian suburb, didn’t carry that religious weight. For McBeath, the experience was simply “unlike anything he’d ever seen”—a moment of wonder, not theology.

The catch: Christianity’s stance on fairies remains ambiguous, leaving room for believers and skeptics to interpret the Esquimalt footage through their own lens.

Timeline: Fairy sightings through history

• Ancient times – Fairy folklore emerges in Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic cultures (Britannica)
• 1917 – Cottingley Fairies photographs published; later admitted as hoax (Britannica)
• 20th century – Numerous anecdotal sightings but no verifiable footage (Coast to Coast AM)
• July 2025 – Steve McBeath’s security camera captures figure in Esquimalt (CTV News)
• August 2025 – Story picked up by CTV, Coast to Coast AM, social media (Coast to Coast AM)

Timeline signal: The Esquimalt sighting is the first to involve a modern home security camera—a technology that now captures everything from package thieves to, possibly, folklore in the making.

Confirmed facts & what’s unclear

Confirmed facts

• Steve McBeath installed security cameras at his Esquimalt home (Dave and Chuck the Freak)
• Camera captured an unusual image that the witness calls a fairy (CTV News)
• Story was reported by Adam Sawatsky on CTV News (CTV News YouTube)
• The figure appears as a bright, fast-moving dot in black-and-white footage (CTV News)
• Experts suggest it is a flying insect, likely a fly (Dave and Chuck the Freak)

What’s unclear

• What exactly the image shows (pixelated figure, possibly a person/animal/insect) (CTV News)
• Whether any fairy folklore definitively explains the event (Britannica)
• If the phenomenon can be replicated or independently verified (Coast to Coast AM)
• Why the camera’s motion detection classified it differently from humans or animals (Dave and Chuck the Freak)
• Whether other residents in the area captured similar footage on their own security cameras

“It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It looked kind of humanoid, with glowing wings.”

— Steve McBeath, in interview with CTV News

“The footage is bizarre, but experts say it’s likely a bug, not a fairy.”

— Adam Sawatsky, CTV Vancouver reporter, CTV News YouTube

Frequently asked questions

For anyone in British Columbia who now glances at their security camera feed with a little more wonder, the Esquimalt footage offers a reminder: technology can capture the unexpected, but it rarely captures the supernatural. The most likely explanation—a fly—doesn’t diminish the genuine surprise McBeath felt. But it does ground the story in reality. For believers, the search for fairies will continue in gardens and forests, not in security camera logs. For skeptics, the lesson is clear: even smart cameras can be fooled by a six-legged insect.